


Blooming Tea

by KellCavs



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Anxiety, F/M, Jealousy, Pining, Self-Esteem Issues, my boy has self confidence issues you cant change my mind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-24 19:41:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22263400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KellCavs/pseuds/KellCavs
Summary: This isn't the life you deserve, he thinks. You deserve to be happy, settled down. Not this life with him.A request from Tumblr!
Relationships: The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Reader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 255





	Blooming Tea

**Author's Note:**

> This is a request from a few days ago from middleearth2asgard, who requested "our boy being the good kind of jealous" ❤ It was just too sweet to pass up. Enjoy!

The man at the shop was innocent enough, Mando figured. A simple backwater boy that sold soothing herbs and teas to you as you made a pit stop. You had been intrigued by the tantalizing smell of spices and herbs wafting from the shop and dashed in. Reluctantly, Mando had followed you.

He stood by the door while you browsed his wares. The shop attendant was a young man, about your age, if Mando was correct in his assumption - he wasn't the owner, he explained, merely the owner's son while his father was gathering more product on another planet. He introduced himself as Royan.

Jealously gnawed its way into Mando's gut as he watched the two of you dance around one another, ducking behind shelves and tables to get at jars and pots as if were both a game of keep-away and the most elegant dance he had ever seen. He compared it to moons and planets, as cliche as he knew that sounded.

Royan smiled and answered all of your questions. He would lift different jars to your nose for you to smell and give you small samples of tea and edible flowers.

Mando tried not to notice the way Royan's eyes lingered on your sweet little mouth when when you nibbled on a flower petal or the way his eyes drifted down your neck to your chest when you reached for something.

You were unaware that you were being watched by both men. Dangerous for someone in this profession, being off guard, but what worries did you have? You knew you were always protected.

Mando was slightly surprised to find out that you had a fairly extensive knowledge of this sort of thing. He made a mental note to ask you later about it.

You may not have realized that you were flirting, it happens, people are like that, but Mando definitely noticed it. As did the shopkeeper's son.

Mando sighed softly as he leaned against the wall. He wanted to close his eyes, to shut this all out, but he found he couldn't look away.

_She doesn't belong_ _to you, Din. She is a passenger on_ _your ship_ _. An extra gun. That's all._ _No bonds, Din. This is the Way._

He thought that you seemed happy; could this be where you chose to disembark? Would you part ways here with him? If you asked him a few months ago, he'd have said bid you farewell with a nod of his head. _I'm not attached._

So why did it make him so kriffing angry to see Royan put his hand on your back as you reached for a jar on a high shelf?

"Mando! Come here and smell this! It's supposed to smell like a lover!" you had called. The sound of your voice tore him away from his intrusive thoughts. "What does a lover smell like!"

He gestured vaguely with his hand at his visor but otherwise didn't reply. It wasn't supposed to be funny, yet a smile lit up your face anyway.

"Oh, you're no fun!" you laughed as he made no motion to get up and come to you.

Royan laughed softly and pressed a bottle into your hands.

"Take it," he said. "The bottle can't really be sold. There's a crack in the stopper. It's yours, if you want."

You blushed and smiled and giggled like a young school girl as he totaled your purchases up.

Mando went to wait outside. He couldn't take it anymore. It was wait outside or cause a scene, and he really didn't feel like forking over the payment from the last bounty on tea and herbs.

You didn't deserve to be cramped up on the _Razor_ _Crest_ for the rest of your life. You deserved happiness, peace. A life free of being shot at and chased down. A family.

All these things were things that Mando couldn't give you.

He sighed and shook his head.

_It's the Way. You know this_ _._ _Drop it._

You came bounding out of the shop a few minutes later, canvas bag slung over your shoulder and filled with teas and spices.

"It's time to go," Mando grunted. He didn't wait for a reply, but merely set off in the direction of the ship.

You followed him at his heels, chattering on about the blooming tea you had bought and how " _if you've never had it from Endor, then it isn't_ real _blooming tea..."_

Any other time, Mando could have listened to you talk for hours. About any topic. He would have been listening with rapt attention, leaned forward slightly with elbows on his knees, head tilted so you would know he was paying attention.

Right now, he kept thinking about you, and how at home you had looked in the shop. The way your hands cradled those little transparisteel glasses and the delicate buds of flowers. He pictured you with flowers woven through your hair.

He was thinking of Royan's hands on your back. All he could picture for you was the future that the shopkeeper's son could give you that he never could. It very nearly killed him.

As you both neared the ship, you stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Did you hear me?" you asked. You had a gentle look on your face. Mando was beginning to think you had two expressions - gentle, and violent. Violent only came on the battlefield. Gentle was reserved only for him.

_Or for lovers,_ his mind corrected.

No. Truth.

"Yes." Lie.

"Uh-huh," you teased. Your perfect mouth slid into a smile as you watched him.

Mando sighed and then shook his head. "Sorry. Thinking about stuff."

" _Stuff_ , huh? Thought I smelled something burning," you hummed with a little wink.

Mando was grateful for the mask to hide the flush on his skin as you touched his upper arm. _Even through cloth your touch is like fire. If I were bare, it would burn._

"I'm making this tea now," you said, "I bought a huge bundle. I'll save some for you. Or maybe I can sit in one room and you can sit in another so we can talk? That way I don't have to see your face but we can still have some together."

Mando was a bit taken aback. No one ever offered that before. Never had they offered a solution, no matter how small, to circumvent his mask.

_Maker._

You smiled brightly when he nodded slowly and it killed him.

As you rushed off, the wind caught your hair and lifted the scent of you towards him. It came, unfiltered through his mask and he glanced in your direction.

_"Mando, what does a lover_ _smell like?"_

He sighed heavily and followed you up the ramp.

***

The blooming tea ended up being both extremely delicious and very calming. Mando found that his anxiety didn't bubble up in his chest when he kept the door open as he shared the drink with you. He sat in the bedroom and you in the hallway, the conversation flowing freely between the two of you as easily as if you had been beside one another.

"What did you think of Endorian tea?" you asked as he heard you pour another small cup.

"It's good," he hummed. There was a small pause as he drank. "It's nothing like the tea we had at the covert. Not as spicy."

_Shut up, Din._

"You don't talk about it that much," you murmured.

He didn't respond.

"Sorry," you said quietly. "I didn't mean it if I upset you."

It was another minute before Mando replied, his voice filtered and methodic in tone once more as he donned his helmet.

"You didn't."

You sighed and collected the cup and the little clay teapot from the floor and started the walk to the kitchen.

Mando followed, now wondering if he upset you.

He didn't expect you to slam the cup down on the counter, didn't expect you to round on him in the kitchen with tears in your eyes. Whether they were angry or upset, he couldn't tell. Gods, did he want to find out.

You weren't expecting him to follow, it seemed, because you jumped a mile when you saw him.

" _Kriff, Mando!_ " you hissed, shoving at his chest plate with your hands. He didn't budge, which only frustrated you more because tears fell down your cheeks. "You startled me!"

He tilted his helmet to the side as he looked down at you.

You hadn't pulled your hands away from his chest, but when you noticed him staring, they were quickly crossed over your chest. A faint blush creeped up over your face as you shrunk in on yourself.

_Kriffing tin can._

"I think you should stay here," Mando said, tone firm.

"What? Like in the kitchen?" Anger flared in your face. "Look here, shiny, if you think that's all I'm good for--"

"I meant on this planet."

You looked shocked, then pissed off and sad at the same time.

"Are you telling me to leave?" you scoffed.

"You don't deserve this kind of life," Mando explained. "Fighting Imps, chasing down bounties. That's not a life I'd wish on anyone."

You didn't say anything for a long time, and Mando was starting to think you were just going to shove past him and leave.

"Don't you want me here anymore?"

_Maker, you sound so upset_ _._

"I do," he said, reaching for your arm. He expected you to shove his hand away, but you didn't. "You... You should have a life here. On this planet. With him."

_Oh, ex_ _cellent choice of words, ladykiller._

You looked at him so intensely, your eyes getting so wide, it looked like they were going to pop out of your skull.

Then you laughed. And laughed. And you didn't stop laughing.

It was only when you were doubled over clutching your sides that you stopped and lifted your head to look at him.

"You... What!" you laughed, straightening up to look at him. "You think I should stay with a shopkeeper I talked to for twenty minutes?"

"Well, this isn't a life for anyone and--"

"Mando," you said, catching his attention. "I want to stay here. On this ship. With you. Not here in some outer rim skughole to sell tea for the rest of my life."

You lifted a hand to his helmet. He bristled for a moment when he thought you were going to remove it. But you didn't. You cupped a hand over his cheek and _smiled._

"This," you said, gesturing around, "Is where I want to stay."

"You don't mind?"

"Nope. Well, that one wound you made me cauterize was _kinda_ gross and I kinda minded that just a little." You smiled and winked. "But I want to keep hunting bounties and kicking ass with you."

Mando put his hand around your arm and, though you couldn't see it, he smiled at you.

_A lover smells like blooming tea, blaster smoke, and milk soap. A lover smells like you._

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed!
> 
> If you did, slap that kudos button and leave a comment!
> 
> Come hang out with me on Tumblr,   
> @smarchit I love visitors!


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